


got your six

by lunarcrowley



Category: Mass Effect 3 - Fandom, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Garrus Understands, Hurt/Comfort, Loving Garrus, Mass Effect 3, New Relationship, One-Shot, References to Mass Effect 2, Renegade Shepard - Freeform, Short & Sweet, Stoic Shepard, Stress, Support, Vulnerability, Warm Embrace, Wartime Romance, rough times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22043896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarcrowley/pseuds/lunarcrowley
Summary: Shepard has a rare moment of vulnerability.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Kudos: 31





	got your six

**Author's Note:**

> this is a scrap of old writing i found on my computer that i decided to post, because shakarian is always in my heart. hope you like this tiny little one-shot.

It was late, and Shepard was doing her rounds, like she did after every mission. Time didn't seem to pass on the Normandy. She had always felt it was like that, jumping from cluster to cluster in a blur of stars. But now, whatever timezone of whatever system they were in, it felt late. 

She was tired but she hardly cared to show it. She'd sleep when she was dead. The Reapers sure as hell didn't sleep. She was again pondering the existence and the motivations of these advanced machines. She wanted to understand them about as much as she wanted to smash them into oblivion. One Reaper at a time, and she'd just killed one. Her feet were carrying her of their own accord, across the crew deck to the Normandy's gun battery. 

She opened the door and stepped inside. Garrus was there, like she had hoped he'd be, calibrating away. But he turned when he heard her enter. "Hey, Shepard," He said, his voice low and soft, subharmonics as smooth as ever. He sounded glad to see her. He looked busy but something about her expression must've turned his attention from the controls in front of him. 

"Hey," Shepard said, and her voice sounded more hollow than she cared it to. She was the commanding officer, and while she did have time to talk with her subordinates she didn't usually have time for comfort. Her brows were knit together.

Garrus surveyed her, the way she was slouching instead of standing at attention. The scars from her cybernetics were showing again, even as they'd been completely healed a week ago. They were dark red channels carved into her either side of her tan face, glowing like rivers of fire. Even the hazelnut of her eyes was tinted a menacing ruby red. Normally she looked intimidating and ruthless, but this was a more obvious showing of the darkness she faced, the stress she could hardly handle.

Garrus noticed all this even as he, too, was heavily scarred from taking a rocket launcher to the face a year prior. Those battlemarks were fading, now, as hers re-emerged. Ever since she'd been brought back by Cerberus, they'd been there, healing and returning as the tides turned.

She didn't say anything else after greeting him. She leaned on the wall and crossed her arms, looking down. Maybe she just wanted his company. After all, she had told him she loved him a few days ago.

Garrus clicked a button on his panel and the doors shut. He thought back to all the vids he'd watched, the research he'd done. From the very start all he had wanted was for this to go right. So far... this was as good as it got. With a war on, planets falling, the odds stacked against them. Even in all this, she made him happier than he'd been with anyone before.

He slowly stepped towards her and took her hand. She finally looked him head-on, and there was a weariness in her eyes that he hadn't seen her bear before. He had always wondered how all this affected her. She was good at keeping her turmoil to herself. He pulled her close to him and she gave way, drawing to him like a magnet. Her head rested against the front of his armor. 

He was tall enough to rest his chin on her head, and he did just that, his arms wrapped around her back. She hugged his waist, just leaning against him. They had been through so much together. Always had each other's sixes. Faced a suicide mission together and walked out of the fire, both in one piece. Had they ever stopped and just...embraced? 

"I'm with you," Garrus assured, and she pulled back to look up at him. He placed his hand - gently, careful of the talons - on the side of her battleworn face, like she had done to him so many times. It was hard to read turian expressions, but she thought he was maybe smiling at her. "Til the very end."

He then leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. Just like they had in her quarters before flying blind into the Omega-4 Relay. She grasped his arm, allowing herself to be calm for a moment. Just for a moment, before the storm.


End file.
